The reality is that my feet are planted squarely on North Carolina soil, yet next Thursday I will be on an airplane returning to Mexico, first to Mexico City, then to Puebla, and then to Oaxaca. I’ll be traveling with my artist friend Hollie Taylor Novak who is participating in the summer Oaxaca Photography Workshop: Market Towns and Artisan Villages that starts on June 29 (still one place left). Hollie hasn’t been to Mexico and it will be a joy to introduce her to Puebla and Oaxaca. Hollie wants to use the experience to inform her work as a mixed media visual artist, potter, sculptor and art instructor.
Time has escaped me, and while planning is underway for a Street Photography workshop in February 2013, and a summer 2013 Memoir and Fiction Writing Workshop- Conference, my preparatory lists feel incomplete. There are not enough breakfasts, lunches and dinners left to visit with friends. Yes, I have refilled prescriptions, made and kept routine medical appointments, and received delivery on a new projector for our photo workshops that I’ll take to Mexico with me.
Making it up as I go along: What I am learning in this first season of my retirement is that creating a mobile life is not always easy. It means being able to leave things behind, leave people behind, travel and live lightly. This has not been my natural style, and is one reason why I created the Artisan Sisters — to stretch myself to appreciate the beauty of handwork and craftsmanship without having to possess it. Lifestyle changes come with making it up as you go along, which is one reason I subscribe to The Improvised Life.
This betwixt and between time is difficult for blogging since I’m not present in Oaxaca to photograph and report on daily events. I read the NY Times just like you do and know that there are controversies surrounding the upcoming Mexican national elections for president. The biggest question is how the next president will form policy to deal with the drug wars (or not). I will leave that discussion for another moment.
What I am able to share with you is this feeling of passage from one time zone to another, one sense of place to another, and the transiency of living with temporary roots. As this year passes and I cycle into next, perhaps a routine will develop where I feel more firmly planted in both places.
Abrazos a todos. -Norma
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